


Photograph

by sinkingships74



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Ending, M/M, MALECCC, Malec, Spoilers, city of lost souls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-19
Updated: 2015-08-19
Packaged: 2018-04-15 15:19:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4611651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinkingships74/pseuds/sinkingships74
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alternate Malec get-back-together scene: Magnus and Alec are, in their separate places, listening to "Photograph" by Ed Sheeran and they realize how much they miss each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Photograph

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to italicize the lyrics of the song but it wouldn't let me u.u

Magnus Bane had been in a lot of relationships. And he’d been in a lot of ended relationships. He knew opening his heart could end in pain. He’d known it since the very beginning. He thought he’d known pain. He thought he’d been prepared. But this . . . This was a whole new level.  
When he’d left Alec on his knees in the subway, it had felt so wrong. He knew he had every right to break up with him, Alec had tried to shorten his life, but now Magnus didn’t think he could go much longer without him.  
Magnus glanced around his apartment. Normally he kept at least some level of neatness, even if it didn’t meet that Herondale boy’s standards, but now it was like a tornado had run through. Chinese food containers were scattered all around. Many were empty, but he’d been less hungry than normal for the past few weeks. Dirty dishes and rumpled clothes were strewn over the floors and counters. He’d turned on his radio to a Mundane music station where some song he didn’t know was playing softly in the background. It was vaguely familiar, but he didn’t bother to check the title.  
Magnus sighed and looked to his desk. He kept a photograph of Alec and himself in a silver standing picture frame. They had taken a trip around the world after the Mortal War. Of all the places they’d gone, Magnus had a special attachment to India. Alec, as always, had worn all black. Magnus, wanting to explore the culture to the fullest, had worn a bright gold sari. They had taken a picture and had two copies printed. Magnus didn’t know where Alec’s copy was. He’d probably torn it up. Or burnt it. Or - Magnus took a deep breath. He had to stop torturing himself.  
The song changed on the radio and familiar guitar tabs started playing. Magnus’s eyes widened slightly and a lump formed in his throat. He picked up the picture and sat down, gently caressing the frame, as Ed Sheeran started singing.

*Loving can hurt*  
*Loving can hurt sometimes*

Alec Lightwood stared out the window. He had been spending the night the same way he had spent nights for the past few weeks, lying on his bed and trying to numb the pain in his heart. He had clutched his picture to his chest, curled into a ball staring at the wall. Or at the ceiling. Or into the air. It didn’t matter, anyway, he couldn’t really see anything through the pain.  
The picture was one of him and Magnus in India, Magnus wearing a sari. They were both smiling. Before Camille. Before Alec got jealous and ruined everything.  
A few minutes into his routine staring, however, his sister Isabelle had barged in.  
“Alexander Lightwood,” she’d declared, “you are not spending one more night like this. We are going to have some fun.”  
She’d wanted to go to Pandemonium, but Alec wasn’t ready to leave the Institute. Instead, Isabelle had dragged him to her room and turned on the radio to one of her Mundane pop music stations. She had danced around the room singing along to every song Alec sat on her bed, his hand delicately stroking the picture folded up in his pocket. Eventually Izzy had left to use the bathroom and Alec was left alone to stare out the window.  
The song changed and some soft guitar chords came on. Alec didn’t recognize it. He didn’t really know Mundane music at all.

*Loving can hurt*  
*Loving can hurt sometimes*  
*But it’s the only thing that I know*

Believe me, voice on the radio, Alec thought, I know how much loving can hurt.

*And when it gets hard*  
*You know it can get hard sometimes*

“No kidding,” Alec muttered under his breath.

*It is the only thing that makes us feel alive*

Alec wasn’t sure about that. There were other things, too. Hunting demons, as Jace would say. Being forced into “having fun” by his sister. But he had to admit, he hadn’t been feeling very alive since Magnus had left.

*We keep this love in a photograph*  
*We made these memories for ourselves*  
*Where our eyes are never closing*  
*Hearts were never broken*  
*Time forever frozen still*

Alec raised his eyebrows. It was like this singer, whoever he was, had written this song just for him. Magnus even had a little bit of an British accent left from his life before New York. If Alec worked a little, he could almost imagine Magnus was on the other end, singing to him.  
He pulled out the picture and stared into Magnus’s eyes. Sure enough, they never closed. Open forever, staring back into Alec’s. Their hearts were whole, untarnished by Camille and her trickery. Well, Magnus’s heart was probably still whole. Alec cringed at the thought.

*So you can keep me inside the pocket of your ripped jeans*  
*Holding me closer till our eyes meet*  
*You won’t ever be alone*  
*Wait for me to come home*

If only Magnus would come back to him.

Magnus stroked the image of Alec’s face with his thumb. He wished he had the courage to go back to Alec, back to his home in the Shadowhunter’s heart, but he couldn’t even bring himself to pick up the phone when Alec called. He’d eventually mustered up the strength to tell himself that he would pick up the next time it rang, but Alec had apparently given up on him.

*Loving can heal*  
*Loving can mend your soul*  
*And it’s the only thing that I know*

Magnus took a shaky breath. Loving could only heal if he could get the guts to talk to Alec again. This kind of loving, longing for him from afar while he was probably moving on with his life, this did nothing but hurt.

*I swear it will get easier*  
*Remember that with every piece of you*

A tear rolled down his cheek. It could get easier, he would make sure it was easier if Alec would ever take him back.

*And it’s the only thing we take with us when we die*

He let out a sob. Death. Death, the idea of it, was what had driven them apart. Magnus knew, if something ever managed to kill him, the memories of Alec would stay with him even if nothing else did. He could only hope Alec felt the same way.

*We keep this love in a photograph*

Magnus gingerly leaned down and kissed the top of picture-Alec’s head.

*We made these memories for ourselves*

He remembered Alec kissing him in front of the entire Shadowhunter population for the first time. He remembered their trip around the world, when they had leaned over the railing of the Eiffel Tower. Magnus had been surprised until he’d looked over at Alec and seen the Fearless rune peeking out from under his shirt. He remembered the time they had been kissing and Magnus realized Alec had fallen asleep under him.

*Where our eyes are never closing*

Magnus closed his eyes.

*Our hearts were never broken*

Tears fell freely down his face. 

*Time forever frozen still*

He held his breath, as if to hold time in place for a moment longer.

*So you can keep me inside the pocket of your ripped jeans*  
*Holding me closer ‘till our eyes meet*

Magnus held the photograph tightly to his chest, his tears staining the back of the frame.

*You won’t ever be alone*

If only, if only.

*And if you hurt me*  
*Well that’s okay baby, only words bleed*

He knew now that he would rather have Alec for one lifetime and miss him for a thousand than not have him at all. If he had just realized this in the subway . . .

*Inside these pages you just hold me*

Alec stood up, pulling out his phone.

*And I won’t ever let you go*

He couldn’t let Magnus go. He couldn’t. He raced down the steps of the Institute, holding his phone to his ear as it rang.

*Wait for me to come home*

Alec leaned against the wall of the Institute, a streetlight covering him in a dim glow. His heart was racing. Izzy had put the radio near the window of her room, and he could still hear the song playing from the street.  
The phone rang once.  
Twice.

*Wait for me to come home*

Magnus stared at his phone on the counter. The name that flashed across the screen - it couldn’t be. Alec had given up on him, hadn’t he? Magnus reached for the phone.

*Wait for me to come home*

Alec ran his fingers through his hair. It had rung three times now - was he going to voicemail again? It wasn’t like Magnus had ever picked up before . . .

*Wait for me to come home*

Magnus took a deep breath and tapped the phone screen, holding it up to his ear. His voice broke as he spoke  
“Alec?”

*Oh you can fit me inside the necklace you got when you were sixteen*

Alec caught his breath. The voice on the other end - could it be? Could it really be Magnus, after all this time?

*Next to your heartbeat, where I should be*

“Alec.” Magnus needed Alec to answer. He needed to feel Alec again, to hear his voice whispered in his ear. To hold Alec against himself and feel their hearts beat in syncopated rhythm.

*Keep it deep within your soul*

Alec opened his mouth and closed it. He took a deep breath. “M-Magnus?” It felt amazing to feel the warlock’s name on his lips once again.

*And if you hurt me, well that’s okay baby, only words bleed*

“Alec!” A few tears escaped Magnus’s eyes again, out of nostalgia or loss or joy, he couldn’t tell. “Alec, I’m so sorry. I was wrong -”

*Inside these pages you just hold me*

“No,” Alec cut in. “I was wrong. Magnus, I tried to shorten your life.”

*And I won’t ever let you go*

“Camille could trick even the most experienced. It wasn’t your fault.”  
He paused. “Alec,” he whispered. “I can’t live without you. I need you. Please. Please, come back to me.”

*And when I’m away*

Alec was speechless. He hadn’t expected this. Wasn’t Magnus angry with him? Hadn’t he said it was over?

*I will remember how you kissed me*

Magnus waited, holding his breath. He knew what he’d done to Alec was inexcusable. Alec wouldn’t want him back, would he? All he could do was hope.

*Under the lamppost back on sixth street*

Alec opened his mouth, but no words came out. He took a deep breath in, then a deep breath out, and spoke.

*Hearing me whisper through the phone*

Magnus couldn’t hear anything on the other end of the line. Had Alec hung up? Probably. His tears threatening to break loose again, Magnus started to pull the phone from his ear when words came, spoken by the voice he had missed so much.

“Wait for me to come home.”


End file.
